We have finally decided to bring a drilled well back in to operation. (Or so we thought) A little history on this set up. About 15-20 years ago this well was a "hub" for 3 rural houses. When we bought the place 5 years ago the system was not in operation. We decided at the time to not spend the money on updating it and just hooked or new house up to the rural water service. Fast forward 5 years and our house is done and now we are wanting to use this deep well to water our lawn. The day the well repairmen were there they took out 280 ft of sectioned line that had a 2 hp pump on the end of it. He explained to me that it would be best to put a new 1 hp pump (10 gpm) that would lift 300 feet. So we decided that's what we would do. The well is approx 460 deep and the water level is 128 ft from the surface. So after they put the new 300ft roll of black coil pipe down it I figure I have 172 feet of water from my pump to the water level. Finally it all gets hooked up and sure enough I have water. So I flushed the lines per his instruction and then hooked up one normal lawn sprinkler. Everything was going good with the sprinkler shooting about 20' side to side until I noticed the sprinkler only shooting water about 3 feet from the base (not enough pressure I presume to make it go back and forth). I went over to the spigot and turned it off and waited about 20 seconds and turned it back on. It started spraying like normal but then went back to the weak stream. When I turned it back on the pressure switch was clicking "on and off" probably 7-10 times. Is this normal? I checked the pressure in the tank with an air gauge and it had about 40psi. Also I did a bucket test and I had about 14.6 gpm. Can someone point me in the right direction for a possible problem. Conveniently my well man left today for 10 day cruise but would like to figure this out.

Any help or advice is appreciated.

1idejim

06-20-2012, 04:25 PM

Are you cycling or is the switch breaking contact?
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nayr

06-20-2012, 04:56 PM

1idejim: Please excuse me in advance for my ignorance but not sure exactly what you mean by me cycling it or breaking contact. All I did was turn the spigot handle off when I noticed the low pressure. Then out of curiousity I waited for less than a minute and turned the spigot back on and the sprinkler operated like normal for less than a minute then went back to the weak problem. When I turned the spigot handle on is when I heard the "clicking" sounds numerous times in sequence from the pressure switch. At that point I grabbed a air pressure gauge and checked the tank and it had about 40psi.

Thanks for your patience and helping me

Wet_Boots

06-20-2012, 05:16 PM

maybe you have a low-producing well, and the water level is dropping to the pump

nayr

06-20-2012, 05:24 PM

W B - Sure hope thats not the case otherwise I just crapped alot of money for nothing.

Wet_Boots

06-20-2012, 05:30 PM

nothing you posted indicates anyone has the slightest idea of the well's true production capacity

jvanvliet

06-20-2012, 05:32 PM

Loose connection can cause the switch to cycle.

Sprinkus

06-20-2012, 05:54 PM

If it's rapidly turning on and off look here (http://www.cyclestopvalves.com/pressureswitch_3.html) for info on correct installation of pressure switches to see if there may be an install issue.

1idejim

06-20-2012, 06:23 PM

you need to do a 2 hr pumpdown test to get working data.
in your opening statement you said the pump man sold you on a 1hp 10 gpm pump yet you were measuring 14.6 gpm.
do the pumpdown test, get the pump specs and bring the numbers back. best of luck
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Mike Leary

06-20-2012, 09:13 PM

Not knowing how long the OP ran the "sprinkler", I'm dubious of the well and the pump guy. Until I got on this forum, I assumed every well was given a pump-down test to see the recharge rate, which we sprinkler guys live and die by. :hammerhead: :dizzy:

greenmonster304

06-20-2012, 09:19 PM

[QUOTE=Mike Leary;4448793] Until I got on this forum, I assumed every well was given a pump-down test to see the recharge rate

You know what happens when you assume don't you? I have never heard of it being done here.
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Wet_Boots

06-20-2012, 09:27 PM

If total incompetence is figured on, you could blame a waterlogged conventional pressure tank for a bouncing switch

Waterlogged

06-20-2012, 09:50 PM

Hey what did I do, I didn't say anything.:laugh:

Kiril

06-20-2012, 09:56 PM

Hey what did I do, I didn't say anything.:laugh:

Isn't it obvious ..... you live in TX. :laugh:

Mike Leary

06-20-2012, 09:56 PM

If total incompetence is figured on, you could blame a waterlogged conventional pressure tank for a bouncing switch

My thoughts also, especially if it's just a single tank. You would think, once you got into the pump after the tank, the 60-40 switch would be by-passed. This brings up the lack of design expertise. Since at a low demand the pump has no clue what's going on and cycles because the demand is not enough to get into the pump circuit without those damn pressure tanks. Incompetence, indeed.:hammerhead: I'd find a competent pump guy and design the system for the gpm/psi and the recharge, like the rest of us do.